'Never been the same': No Stone Unturned brings awareness to Manitoba MMIWG cases

More than a decade after a Winnipeg woman simply vanished, members of her family continue to hold out hope they'll find out what happened to her — and they hope for justice.
 

For the 11th year in a row, people gathered at the No Stone Unturned concert in the North End Saturday in hopes of raising awareness for missing and murdered women and girls, as well as to show support for each other.

The concert is organized by MLA Bernadette Smith, whose sister Claudette Osborne-Tyo went missing in July 2008.

As well, Claudette's mother, Brenda, led an approximately 800-kilometre walk from Norway House Cree Nation — also for the 11th time — to bring attention to the unsolved case and others like it.

All of Canada needs to care about the issue and the disproportionate amount of violence women face, Smith told CBC.

"People still see this as an Indigenous women's issue and we know it isn't," Smith said. "When my sister went missing, the headline was very dehumanizing. And we had to work really hard to humanize my sister, to help people understand she was a mother, a sister — she had goals."

Vernon Mann's wife Tanya Nepinak disappeared in 2011. Winnipeg police charged a man in connection with her killing, but the Crown later stayed the prosecution against him for lack of evidence.

Murder charge in Tanya Nepinak's death stayed

11 years ago

Duration 1:46

The second-degree murder charge against convicted killer Shawn Lamb in the death of Tanya Nepinak has been stayed, CBC News has learned.

Mann said he and his family are still searching for justice. It's the seventh year he's participated in the walk.

"My kids are still not the same. My son's never been the same. My daughter's angry because someone got away with killing her mom," he said.

Despite that, Mann said he's seen some improvements since his wife went missing, pointing to a recent life sentence handed down to the man who murdered Christine Wood in 2016.

The Bunibonibee Cree Nation woman, 21, was killed in Winnipeg hours after meeting Brett Overby through a dating website. At a sentencing earlier this month, Overby was ordered to serve at least 15 years behind bars before being able to ask for parole.

"That was good," said Mann. "It was nice to see that happening instead of seeing people getting light sentences and seeing them get away with it completely."

Sheena Godwin, Wood's friend, suggested that the No Stone Unturned walk and event was a way to remember her.

"I used to go to school with her. She was a really good friend of mine. [She was] loving, free-spirited, always happy, funny, caring … supportive," Godwin said.

• Christine Wood's killer gets life with no chance of parole for 15 years

It took a week and a half of walking, rain or shine, to get to Winnipeg, she said.

Godwin said she was grateful for the support she and the other walkers received along the way.

"Wanting to finish it and just to be heard," she said of her own motivation to keep going.

"It was really a tough journey but it was worth it."

The concert, at St. John's Park, was due to conclude at 11 p.m. CT.